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Talebipour A, Saviz M, Vafaiee M, Faraji-Dana R. Facilitating long-term cell examinations and time-lapse recordings in cell biology research with CO 2 mini-incubators. Sci Rep 2024; 14:3418. [PMID: 38341451 PMCID: PMC10858865 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52866-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
In recent years, microscopy has revolutionized the study of dynamic living cells. However, performing long-term live cell imaging requires stable environmental conditions such as temperature, pH, and humidity. While standard incubators have traditionally provided these conditions, other solutions, like stagetop incubators are available. To further enhance the accessibility of stable cell culture environments for live cell imaging, we developed a portable CO2 cell culture mini-incubator that can be easily adapted to any x-y inverted microscope stage, enabling long-term live cell imaging. This mini-incubator provides and maintains stable environmental conditions and supports cell viability comparable to standard incubators. Moreover, it allows for parallel experiments in the same environment, saving both time and resources. To demonstrate its functionality, different cell lines (VERO and MDA-MB-231) were cultured and evaluated using various assays, including crystal violet staining, MTT, and flow cytometry tests to assess cell adhesion, viability, and apoptosis, respectively. Time-lapse imaging was performed over an 85-h period with MDA-MB-231 cells cultured in the mini-incubator. The results indicate that this device is a viable solution for long-term imaging and can be applied in developmental biology, cell biology, and cancer biology research where long-term time-lapse recording is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ali Talebipour
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran
| | - Mehrdad Saviz
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran.
| | - Mohaddeseh Vafaiee
- Institute for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
| | - Reza Faraji-Dana
- Center of Excellence on Applied Electromagnetic Systems, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
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Habibey R. Incubator-independent perfusion system integrated with microfluidic device for continuous electrophysiology and microscopy readouts. Biofabrication 2023; 15. [PMID: 36652708 DOI: 10.1088/1758-5090/acb466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Advances in primary and stem cell derived neuronal cell culture techniques and abundance of available neuronal cell types have enabledin vitroneuroscience as a substantial approach to modelin vivoneuronal networks. Survival of the cultured neurons is inevitably dependent on the cell culture incubators to provide stable temperature and humidity and to supply required CO2levels for controlling the pH of culture medium. Therefore, imaging and electrophysiology recordings outside of the incubator are often limited to the short-term experimental sessions. This restricts our understanding of physiological events to the short snapshots of recorded data while the major part of temporal data is neglected. Multiple custom-made and commercially available platforms like integrated on-stage incubators have been designed to enable long-term microscopy. Nevertheless, long-term high-spatiotemporal electrophysiology recordings from developing neuronal networks needs to be addressed. In the present work an incubator-independent polydimethylsiloxane-based double-wall perfusion chamber was designed and integrated with multi-electrode arrays (MEAs) electrophysiology and compartmentalized microfluidic device to continuously record from engineered neuronal networks at sub-cellular resolution. Cell culture media underwent iterations of conditioning to the ambient CO2and adjusting its pH to physiological ranges to retain a stable pH for weeks outside of the incubator. Double-wall perfusion chamber and an integrated air bubble trapper reduced media evaporation and osmolality drifts of the conditioned media for two weeks. Aligned microchannel-microfluidic device on MEA electrodes allowed neurite growth on top of the planar electrodes and amplified their extracellular activity. This enabled continuous sub-cellular resolution imaging and electrophysiology recordings from developing networks and their growing neurites. The on-chip versatile and self-contained system provides long-term, continuous and high spatiotemporal access to the network data and offers a robustin vitroplatform with many potentials to be applied on advanced cell culture systems including organ-on-chip and organoid models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rouhollah Habibey
- Department of Ophthalmology, Universitäts-Augenklinik Bonn, University of Bonn, Ernst-Abbe-Straße 2, D-53127 Bonn, Germany.,CRTD-Center for Regenerative Therapies TU Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
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Mäki AJ, Verho J, Kreutzer J, Ryynänen T, Rajan D, Pekkanen-Mattila M, Ahola A, Hyttinen J, Aalto-Setälä K, Lekkala J, Kallio P. A Portable Microscale Cell Culture System with Indirect Temperature Control. SLAS Technol 2018; 23:566-579. [PMID: 29723086 DOI: 10.1177/2472630318768710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
A physiologically relevant environment is essential for successful long-term cell culturing in vitro. Precise control of temperature, one of the most crucial environmental parameters in cell cultures, increases the fidelity and repeatability of the experiments. Unfortunately, direct temperature measurement can interfere with the cultures or prevent imaging of the cells. Furthermore, the assessment of dynamic temperature variations in the cell culture area is challenging with the methods traditionally used for measuring temperature in cell culture systems. To overcome these challenges, we integrated a microscale cell culture environment together with live-cell imaging and a precise local temperature control that is based on an indirect measurement. The control method uses a remote temperature measurement and a mathematical model for estimating temperature at the desired area. The system maintained the temperature at 37±0.3 °C for more than 4 days. We also showed that the system precisely controls the culture temperature during temperature transients and compensates for the disturbance when changing the cell cultivation medium, and presented the portability of the heating system. Finally, we demonstrated a successful long-term culturing of human induced stem cell-derived beating cardiomyocytes, and analyzed their beating rates at different temperatures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antti-Juhana Mäki
- 1 BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland
| | - Jarmo Verho
- 1 BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland
| | - Joose Kreutzer
- 1 BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland
| | - Tomi Ryynänen
- 1 BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland
| | - Dhanesh Rajan
- 1 BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland
| | - Mari Pekkanen-Mattila
- 2 BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland
| | - Antti Ahola
- 1 BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland
| | - Jari Hyttinen
- 1 BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland
| | - Katriina Aalto-Setälä
- 2 BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.,3 Heart Hospital, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland
| | - Jukka Lekkala
- 1 BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland
| | - Pasi Kallio
- 1 BioMediTech Institute and Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland
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4
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Cell culture chamber with gas supply for prolonged recording of human neuronal cells on microelectrode array. J Neurosci Methods 2017; 280:27-35. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2017.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2016] [Revised: 01/26/2017] [Accepted: 01/31/2017] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
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Regalia G, Biffi E, Achilli S, Ferrigno G, Menegon A, Pedrocchi A. Development of a bench-top device for parallel climate-controlled recordings of neuronal cultures activity with microelectrode arrays. Biotechnol Bioeng 2015; 113:403-13. [DOI: 10.1002/bit.25811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2015] [Revised: 08/06/2015] [Accepted: 08/18/2015] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Regalia
- Neuroengineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory; Electronics, Information and Bioengineering Department; Politecnico di Milano; 20133 Milan Italy
| | - Emilia Biffi
- Neuroengineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory; Electronics, Information and Bioengineering Department; Politecnico di Milano; 20133 Milan Italy
| | - Silvia Achilli
- Neuroengineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory; Electronics, Information and Bioengineering Department; Politecnico di Milano; 20133 Milan Italy
| | - Giancarlo Ferrigno
- Neuroengineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory; Electronics, Information and Bioengineering Department; Politecnico di Milano; 20133 Milan Italy
| | - Andrea Menegon
- Advanced Light and Electron Microscopy Bio-Imaging Centre; Experimental Imaging Centre; San Raffaele Scientific Institute; 20132 Milan Italy
| | - Alessandra Pedrocchi
- Neuroengineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory; Electronics, Information and Bioengineering Department; Politecnico di Milano; 20133 Milan Italy
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Saalfrank D, Konduri AK, Latifi S, Habibey R, Golabchi A, Martiniuc AV, Knoll A, Ingebrandt S, Blau A. Incubator-independent cell-culture perfusion platform for continuous long-term microelectrode array electrophysiology and time-lapse imaging. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2015; 2:150031. [PMID: 26543581 PMCID: PMC4632545 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2015] [Accepted: 05/19/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Most in vitro electrophysiology studies extract information and draw conclusions from representative, temporally limited snapshot experiments. This approach bears the risk of missing decisive moments that may make a difference in our understanding of physiological events. This feasibility study presents a simple benchtop cell-culture perfusion system adapted to commercial microelectrode arrays (MEAs), multichannel electrophysiology equipment and common inverted microscopy stages for simultaneous and uninterrupted extracellular electrophysiology and time-lapse imaging at ambient CO2 levels. The concept relies on a transparent, replica-casted polydimethylsiloxane perfusion cap, gravity- or syringe-pump-driven perfusion and preconditioning of pH-buffered serum-free cell-culture medium to ambient CO2 levels at physiological temperatures. The low-cost microfluidic in vitro enabling platform, which allows us to image cultures immediately after cell plating, is easy to reproduce and is adaptable to the geometries of different cell-culture containers. It permits the continuous and simultaneous multimodal long-term acquisition or manipulation of optical and electrophysiological parameter sets, thereby considerably widening the range of experimental possibilities. Two exemplary proof-of-concept long-term MEA studies on hippocampal networks illustrate system performance. Continuous extracellular recordings over a period of up to 70 days revealed details on both sudden and gradual neural activity changes in maturing cell ensembles with large intra-day fluctuations. Correlated time-lapse imaging unveiled rather static macroscopic network architectures with previously unreported local morphological oscillations on the timescale of minutes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dirk Saalfrank
- Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies (NBT), Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), via Morego 30, Genoa 16163, Italy
- Department of Informatics and Microsystem Technology, University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern, Amerikastraße 1, Zweibrücken 66482, Germany
| | - Anil Krishna Konduri
- Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies (NBT), Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), via Morego 30, Genoa 16163, Italy
| | - Shahrzad Latifi
- Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies (NBT), Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), via Morego 30, Genoa 16163, Italy
| | - Rouhollah Habibey
- Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies (NBT), Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), via Morego 30, Genoa 16163, Italy
| | - Asiyeh Golabchi
- Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies (NBT), Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), via Morego 30, Genoa 16163, Italy
| | - Aurel Vasile Martiniuc
- Computer Science Department VI, Technical University Munich (TUM), Boltzmannstraße 3, Garching 85748, Germany
| | - Alois Knoll
- Computer Science Department VI, Technical University Munich (TUM), Boltzmannstraße 3, Garching 85748, Germany
| | - Sven Ingebrandt
- Department of Informatics and Microsystem Technology, University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern, Amerikastraße 1, Zweibrücken 66482, Germany
| | - Axel Blau
- Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies (NBT), Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), via Morego 30, Genoa 16163, Italy
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A low-noise, modular, and versatile analog front-end intended for processing in vitro neuronal signals detected by microelectrode arrays. COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND NEUROSCIENCE 2015; 2015:172396. [PMID: 25977683 PMCID: PMC4419262 DOI: 10.1155/2015/172396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2014] [Accepted: 04/02/2015] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
The collection of good quality extracellular neuronal spikes from neuronal cultures coupled to Microelectrode Arrays (MEAs) is a binding requirement to gather reliable data. Due to physical constraints, low power requirement, or the need of customizability, commercial recording platforms are not fully adequate for the development of experimental setups integrating MEA technology with other equipment needed to perform experiments under climate controlled conditions, like environmental chambers or cell culture incubators. To address this issue, we developed a custom MEA interfacing system featuring low noise, low power, and the capability to be readily integrated inside an incubator-like environment. Two stages, a preamplifier and a filter amplifier, were designed, implemented on printed circuit boards, and tested. The system is characterized by a low input-referred noise (<1 μV RMS), a high channel separation (>70 dB), and signal-to-noise ratio values of neuronal recordings comparable to those obtained with the benchmark commercial MEA system. In addition, the system was successfully integrated with an environmental MEA chamber, without harming cell cultures during experiments and without being damaged by the high humidity level. The devised system is of practical value in the development of in vitro platforms to study temporally extended neuronal network dynamics by means of MEAs.
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Biffi E, Regalia G, Menegon A, Ferrigno G, Pedrocchi A. The influence of neuronal density and maturation on network activity of hippocampal cell cultures: a methodological study. PLoS One 2013; 8:e83899. [PMID: 24386305 PMCID: PMC3873984 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2013] [Accepted: 11/09/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
It is known that cell density influences the maturation process of in vitro neuronal networks. Neuronal cultures plated with different cell densities differ in number of synapses per neuron and thus in single neuron synaptic transmission, which results in a density-dependent neuronal network activity. Although many authors provided detailed information about the effects of cell density on neuronal culture activity, a dedicated report of density and age influence on neuronal hippocampal culture activity has not yet been reported. Therefore, this work aims at providing reference data to researchers that set up an experimental study on hippocampal neuronal cultures, helping in planning and decoding the experiments. In this work, we analysed the effects of both neuronal density and culture age on functional attributes of maturing hippocampal cultures. We characterized the electrophysiological activity of neuronal cultures seeded at three different cell densities, recording their spontaneous electrical activity over maturation by means of MicroElectrode Arrays (MEAs). We had gather data from 86 independent hippocampal cultures to achieve solid statistic results, considering the high culture-to-culture variability. Network activity was evaluated in terms of simple spiking, burst and network burst features. We observed that electrical descriptors were characterized by a functional peak during maturation, followed by a stable phase (for sparse and medium density cultures) or by a decrease phase (for high dense neuronal cultures). Moreover, 900 cells/mm2 cultures showed characteristics suitable for long lasting experiments (e.g. chronic effect of drug treatments) while 1800 cells/mm2 cultures should be preferred for experiments that require intense electrical activity (e.g. to evaluate the effect of inhibitory molecules). Finally, cell cultures at 3600 cells/mm2 are more appropriate for experiments in which time saving is relevant (e.g. drug screenings). These results are intended to be a reference for the planning of in vitro neurophysiological and neuropharmacological experiments with MEAs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilia Biffi
- Neuroengineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory, Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
- Advanced Light and Electron Microscopy Bio-Imaging Centre, Experimental Imaging Centre, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
- * E-mail:
| | - Giulia Regalia
- Neuroengineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory, Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Andrea Menegon
- Advanced Light and Electron Microscopy Bio-Imaging Centre, Experimental Imaging Centre, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Giancarlo Ferrigno
- Neuroengineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory, Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Alessandra Pedrocchi
- Neuroengineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory, Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
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Lignani G, Ferrea E, Difato F, Amarù J, Ferroni E, Lugarà E, Espinoza S, Gainetdinov RR, Baldelli P, Benfenati F. Long-term optical stimulation of channelrhodopsin-expressing neurons to study network plasticity. Front Mol Neurosci 2013; 6:22. [PMID: 23970852 PMCID: PMC3747358 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2013.00022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2012] [Accepted: 07/30/2013] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuronal plasticity produces changes in excitability, synaptic transmission, and network architecture in response to external stimuli. Network adaptation to environmental conditions takes place in time scales ranging from few seconds to days, and modulates the entire network dynamics. To study the network response to defined long-term experimental protocols, we setup a system that combines optical and electrophysiological tools embedded in a cell incubator. Primary hippocampal neurons transduced with lentiviruses expressing channelrhodopsin-2/H134R were subjected to various photostimulation protocols in a time window in the order of days. To monitor the effects of light-induced gating of network activity, stimulated transduced neurons were simultaneously recorded using multi-electrode arrays (MEAs). The developed experimental model allows discerning short-term, long-lasting, and adaptive plasticity responses of the same neuronal network to distinct stimulation frequencies applied over different temporal windows.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriele Lignani
- Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Genoa, Italy
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